Archive for June, 2011

Your Online Shop: How To Keep It Safe

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

Here at Little Big Voice Search Engine Marketing we pride ourselves on offering the very best advice and guidance to clients.  As the Internet grows and online businesses grow and develop new strategies, the need for security is higher than ever.

So if you want to avoid the pitfalls you may find this guide very useful in defining how you can keep your business and transactions safe from cyber crime.

The risks to businesses:

Selling via the Internet can be fantastic for business, but you need to ensure you can do it without falling victim to things like fraud and charge backs.

These risks include:

Fraudulent purchases (often payments made with stolen cards or card details).  These are by far one of the biggest causes of credit card charges from your bank.  Essentially the details are used by the fraudster and then a month later, the actual owner of the card does not recognise the transaction and discovers they themselves are a victim of fraud.  In this case, the bank will issue what is known as a charge back, which effectively means they ‘take back’ the payment that was made, leaving you out of pocket.

The next area is of course ‘hacking’ or unauthorised access to your customer details – which can include things like credit card details and personal information.

Denial of Service attacks are on the increase as well, where computer vandals will try to disrupt your business by attacking your website.  Usually this is caused by a sudden high demand from a number of IP addresses at the same time, which either makes your website run very slowly or even crash.

Of course if you are a victim of any of the above, this can then lead to your customers losing faith in your services, which in turn affects your future business significantly.

So how can you try to avoid them?

You need to be part detective and most certainly aware of ‘suspicious’ activity such as:

  • Ordering large quantities of expensive products
  • Making numerous orders in a very short time frame for small amounts
  • Use of free web email addresses (such as Hotmail)
  • Card delivery addresses that do not match the registered card address
  • Using PO Box addresses for delivery
  • International orders
  • Orders placed late at night
  • Communication only through email
  • No landline number given or mobile number that does not work

Of course you need to apply some logic to things, as we often purchase online and want things delivered to other addresses for convenience, but it is worth defining a security process to help combat the safety of your business.

Security Process

If you feel that a purchase is suspicious then you may consider the following:

  • Call the buyer and ask to talk to the card holder.  If you can’t get a number, ask for one.  How do they sound?  Are they responsive or do they take time to answer your questions?
  • As for a fax of the back strip of the credit card or proof of name and address.  It would be advisable to carry out all other checks before doing this though, as if you go in too quickly, you could end up offending a genuine customer.
  • Contact your payment merchant to do a phone check.  This can cost money, but if it’s a high transaction it is probably worth checking.  You can usually check the name, address and post code as well as the security number this way.
  • If you are going to deliver to a different address, perhaps integrate harder security measures for this.  As long as you tell the customer this is standard practice to avoid fraud, they will be happy that you care enough to make the extra checks.
  • For B2B work, always run a credit check.
  • Always check the card security code.  If it doesn’t match the card (even if everything else appears to be fine) contact the customer.

So assuming you’ve got the security of payments sorted from the front end, now you need to make sure your website itself is secure.

People trust websites that have certain elements, clearly visible to them.  If they are not, then there’s also a good chance their Internet security system (such as Norton) will tell them your site is not a trusted site.  You need to make sure you have this covered.

  • Always keep your ecommerce software up to date.  Older versions will have flaws that seasoned computer hackers know about, so by keeping it up to date you’re staying ahead of the game.
  • Use very strong passwords in your system and change them regularly.  Many companies change things once a month.
  • Make sure your server is protected by a good firewall and anti-virus software that’s of a professional level.
  • Do not under any circumstances store your customers’ information and credit card details on a public ecommerce server.  These are easily hackable.
  • Make sure you have an up to date SSL certificate and keep the details closely guarded.  This is one of the essential elements of good ecommerce sites.

Never assume anything with ecommerce and try to avoid allowing things to simply continue with no review.

Be clear about this and you will manage to generate lots of online business and keep it!

Paul

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How To Reduce Abandoned Sales

Monday, June 27th, 2011

Many online retailers usually have no idea why their potential customers abandon a website before they have made a purchase, but it is surprisingly common. They pay for the Search Engine Marketing and SEO to get their site seen and after they’ve succeeded they then look at their Google analytics only to wonder why people are leaving before checking out!

There are a lot of reasons for customers to abandon their shopping baskets online – some simply change their minds while the others?  Well they’re a little harder to work out.  However, in this latest blog we want to share with you some practical tips and tricks to help you reduce your abandoned sales, hopefully resulting in a lot less people giving up before they’ve purchased.

My website is enough

When we think of online retail, we can often assume that it means EVERYTHING is online, including your vital contact details, which for many sites includes either a sign-up form or an email address.  In truth you will lose sales if you do not provide a contact number in a prominent place on your site.

So if you don’t already do it, make sure that you have a contact number clearly visible on EVERY page, so that if someone is struggling to use your site (this happens a lot) or if something isn’t working or indeed if they have a query about a product they’re interested in, you can help seal the deal if they can call you!

You have a very short amount of time to keep your buyer’s attention before they leave, so make sure you provide an email AND a contact number in a highly visible place.

Reply to your emails

Before we talk about contact numbers, let’s have a look at emails.  How quickly do you answer them?  Do you do it when you have time?  What other priorities do you have?  The best advice with an enquiry is to answer an email within 30 minutes and no longer than an hour from when the enquiry came in.  Most companies don’t always do this but you may be very surprised to know that the ones that do, get better results and this one action sells them as a ‘real time’ business.  If you don’t have an answer straight away, communicate this to the person emailing.  Set a target time.  Eg:  I don’t have that information to hand but I will find out for you and get back to you within the hour.  Always set a time as this not only helps you get that answer, but it keeps the communication channels open.

Never underestimate the impression a prompt response gets.

We already have a contact number

Okay, so you’ve got the contact number.  Do you have a policy about calls?  One very successful online retailer with a multi-million pound turnover we know, runs out of a tiny converted church, ships worldwide and when it comes to answering customer calls, they have one simple policy.  Answer all calls within three rings!

You will be amazed at how many companies don’t do this and yet it’s one way to provide top level customer service easily and get information to an impatient Internet buyer to make a sale.

Equally, never forget.  If someone doesn’t get to speak to a person they’ll soon give up and forget you ever existed.  This may sound harsh but it happens.

And before you think of automated queuing BEWARE!  How many times have you been in a long, long queue and given up?  Although it may seem old fashioned, consider a simple answer phone message, telling the customer that if they leave a name and phone number they will be called back within twenty minutes.  Lots of people WILL leave messages and even though you’ll lose the odd call, it’s better than losing ten.

Know your products

Another very important factor to success is to make sure with calls that whoever answers them knows the products and is trained to make the sale.  Don’t be pushy, but know what you’re talking about and it will instil a lot of trust.

Equally, if you have a website, consider ‘live chat’.  It’s actually very popular but beware the late night buyer who feels disappointment that there’s no one online.  If you use this kind of software, make sure that you keep it running at regular intervals.  So, office hours Monday to Friday is a lot clearer than – when I’m online!

Essentially when someone contacts you, they’re already interested.  So all you need to do is assist them in making that purchase and you’ll begin to see a decrease in your abandoned shopping baskets and more sales!

Thank you for your purchase!

Okay we’ve all seen this at the bottom of a remittance note, but do we really believe it?  Probably not always if we’re honest but it doesn’t mean you can’t say it!  In fact, you might even find a unique way to say it.  One online company I regularly buy from that sells bicycle parts and accessories always places a small 10p bag of Haribo in with the order.  Simple and yet effective it is always amazing how much repeat business they must get for taking the trouble to do it.

And finally…

If you already do all of the above then, take a look at your website!  We have written some blogs all about websites and what you should consider with regards to the end user, so if you’ve got the best customer service in the world and you sell tons of products in the real world, it’s time to see what’s wrong with your website.  It may be the layout, or maybe your payment options are hidden?  In fact it could be anything so make sure you do what you can and you will begin to keep those sales and not lose them.

If you want any advice (we have plenty of it) then CONTACT US for some help.

Paul

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Social Media Part 12 – The Reasons Your Business Needs A Blog

Monday, June 20th, 2011

These days everyone has a blog, whether they are independent creatives demonstrating their work or large companies with a goal for achieving their online marketing initiatives.

So why should you get a blog for your business?

There are many reasons for, and benefits to be found from, blogging online, and for businesses it can be a highly advantageous platform for establishing, marketing and communicating your business.

Why is maintaining an online business important?

If your business is not online, you might as well not exist. The 21st Century has connected all people and businesses into a network of socially interacting entities that can market, advertise and expand themselves through the use of online platforms and social media applications. This is crucial if you are a new business, or even an old business trying to diversify via online enterprises.

With a blog you can sustain a consistent online presence at all times. You will need to hire the right people to manage the development and content so that it can continue to be preserved and upheld.

How does search engine marketing affect the process?

This is one of the main goals of blogging for business.

Search Engine Marketing ensures that the content of your web pages can be read and indexed by search engines, displaying your business at the top of the search results page for certain key phrases relating to your company, business and blog. Search engines love blogs. Eventually, the more updates you make with your blogs and the newer the content, the further up the list you will climb. In many cases, it is useful to employ the services of a Search Engine Marketing expert or professional who can tell you how to optimise the process and get the maximum amount of benefits possible from it.

Why is interaction key to success?

If you write good, interesting copy in a blog, that avoids the inanities of “I went to the beach today and it was nice…” fluff content that is so pervasive today, you can engage people and encourage them to interact with what they have read by posting comments, sending messages, asking questions, sharing information and links, and generating d

iscussions. Interaction between the content you produce and the reader that digests it can create a synthesis of activity about your business, products, people and/or services.

On a more technical note; when you link your blog through keywords it gives the option to see previous articles or to view other pages, redirecting the reader through the site or to other sites that share a connection with your content. This increases the exposure of your business and has more chance of being seen and shared. Good articles tend to g

et shared with others and therefore the link gets posted and emailed becoming a “free link,” which helps with click throughs and SEO.

How will it keep the business current and up-to-date?

Every industry and every business encounters changes, developments and evolutions in how they operate and do business. These changes happen on a daily basis sometimes from the very small fluctuation of details and information to the changes in the larger, overarching company objectives. By producing content and articles that highlight, detail and cover these developments within and around your company and the industry it belongs to, you can keep your readers informed and up-to-date.

Blogging helps to create a “real-time” feed of updates to clients, customers and visitors without bombarding them with emails, newsletters or alerts. It allows for them to view the developments in the company, product launches, event specifications, related news updates, observational “insider” commentaries and any special offers or deals that are available.

Why does blogging matter to your business?

Through the writing of good copy and well written articles, you display an understanding of the industry you work in, show a passion for the products or services you provide, and most importantly of all, you demonstrate your expertise as one of the leading companies or brands in your particular area.

All you have to do is write interesting, relevant and exciting content and recurrently update to show people that you are still “Here.”

Paul

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“Facebook” Juror’s Prosecution: Justice For All?

Friday, June 17th, 2011

If you’ve been following the news recently you’ll have seen the story about Joanne Frail, the woman who contacted the defendant from the trial she was involved in as a juror. You may also know that she will now be spending the next eight months in prison for contempt of court.

This event has provoked a large reaction in the media and called for the government to review social media communications and how they can impact or infringe upon laws that were written and designed long before social networking was even a glint in our eyes. What is interesting in this case is that it has put social media sites like Facebook and Twitter on “trial” so to speak.

If we start to ask and control how much information and communication is acceptable in social networking terms, we start down a slippery slope. Joanne Fraill has unfortunately become the first person to be prosecuted and made an example of but possibly won’t be the last.  In fact, there have been cases in the last year whereby criminals have been caught out by their Facebook pages already so it’s an interesting point to talk about.

Many don’t want to see heavier regulations imposed on social media and in fact the Internet, which is something that has been for many a place where ‘real’ freedom of speech exists.  In fact, the regulations imposed could potentially damage its very purpose, so the responsibility for avoiding harsher controls over our online universe is up to us.  So what can be learnt from this?

Joanne Fraill - Setting a legal precedent

 

“Add a Friend”

First of all, do not make friends on Facebook with people you do not know! This is where a danger always lies. Think before you accept friend requests from people you have never met or adding people you do not know.

Joanne Fraill claimed that she was empathetic towards Jamie Stewart (the defendant in the drugs trial), and tracked him down on Facebook. This seemingly simple act led to Ms. Fraill going back to court a few months later, only this time she was the one in the dock and on trial.

“What are you up to?”

Secondly, think about what you post before you post it! There have been several dozen cases in the last few years of employees losing their jobs because of comments made about their days or their bosses on Facebook. One instance even saw an employer fire a person on Facebook via the status that detailed how much they hated their job. The employer’s response was, “Don’t come back in. I’ll pop your P45 in the post. And yes, I’m serious.”

The best advice on this is to remain diplomatic. If you hate your job, get a better one. Don’t risk your income by making a frivolous, potentially offensive comment on your wall for all to see otherwise you might find yourself with no job at all. Again, this is a case of knowing who is on your friends list.

This doesn’t just apply to bosses and co-workers but corporations, constituents, private citizens and public figures as well. There is an extreme sensitivity to comments made, even if they are said in jest or in passing they can lead to consequences for yourself. It is a possibility that we could eventually head towards a future where libel defamation suits are regularly filed for what you post on Facebook or Twitter.

“Upload a Photo”

As if it weren’t enough that you have to worry about all the unflattering photos that you get tagged in by friends, you also must be aware and vigilant when it comes to what content you yourself upload.

Check your privacy settings; know who can see what you post, especially if you upload photos that could be deemed as “lewd” or “inappropriate.” What you wear, how you act and where you go.  If caught on camera your actions while perfectly innocent at the time possibly can get posted to Facebook and could lead to embarrassment or potential problems. It is another aspect of social media that seems to get people in trouble these days, particularly politicians and celebrities.

Spread the word

Be careful what and whose word you are spreading. You can’t exactly keep things a secret when you post them on Facebook for all to see.

Sensitive information appearing on the internet can range from someone “accidentally” exposing infidelities to soldiers posting updates about where they are in the world, posing a potential security risk to operations. According to reports the Ministry of Defence has launched a rigorous campaign to stamp out its personnel’s active use on Facebook and Twitter.

Where does privacy end and public domain begin with social media?

As the recent “celebrity super-injunctions” have shown us, information that is made private by law can easily be leaked, distributed and shared on Facebook, Twitter and online forums. Can the law successfully prosecute every single person who shared legally sealed information? Of course not, it is a practical impossibility in terms of cost and time, and in fact becomes more of a matter for an ethical debate that could go on for a very long time.

But “moderate” censorship and regulation could be imposed and is being seriously looked at both here in the UK and around the world. Joanne Fraill might just be the first of many more prosecutions that are on the horizon.

The only question then becomes where will it all end?

Paul

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List Your Products For Free On Google

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

If you’re an online retailer with products to sell, you may be interested in reading this blog.  If you’ve not heard of Google Shopping and Google Product Search then it’s time to listen up!  With this smart little search feature you can get better rankings and the chance to reach more people who may be interested in your products instead of missing out on the chance to promote yourself and your website for free!  Yes, free!

So what is Google Product Search?

Google product search allows online shoppers to find and compare the products they want more quickly on Google’s search engine.   Aside from generating more traffic and therefore more sales, the service is completely free and allows you a lot of control over your product information.

Surprisingly perhaps, there are still a number of online retailers who are not party to this information and who still struggle to get seen on Google.  Aside from benefiting from some Search Engine Marketing (which obviously helps no end), this free and easy feature should be considered a ‘must have’ as part of your digital marketing strategy.

How will Google Product Search help you?

Quite simply it will drive more traffic to your website, which in turn means you can make more sales!  But perhaps most importantly it will give you free listings at the top of Google if someone searches for your products, so as you can see, if you’re selling online you shouldn’t really miss out!

So how are these results ordered?

Like Google itself, the results for products are based on their relevance to the original search term and thus will appear in the main Google search.   So if someone searches for a specific part, perhaps with a model number or colour, your products will come up in the results.

Okay, how do I get my products on there?

This is the trickier bit to start, but the results will be more than worth it.  To get products submitted you need to go to the Google Merchant Centre, which is the service Google provides for submitting information to be included in search results.  It was previously Google Base but this has now been migrated to the Merchant Centre.

You will need to set up an account and form there you’re pretty much good to go and can start thinking about what products you want to get onto Google.

Once you’ve worked this out then you will need to upload a feed for Google.  This will be a file that contains information about the products that you’re selling.  It’s usually in an XML or text format  file and contains things like product names, product descriptions and price etc.  Be sure to read the Google Merchant Centre policies before you create one though as they can suspend the feed if you’ve done something wrong.

So assuming I’ve done all this, how can I track how well I’m doing?

Once your products are listed you can track their performance via Google Merchant Centre and get things like the number of impressions and of course the number of clicks.  This is obviously very similar to the way Google analytics or PPC charts results, but with these results, you’ll know it’s all completely free but for some time spent putting it together.

As always, if you want help or advice on how to get your site seen on the major search engines and you want some advice, contact us!

Paul

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How To Make Free Business Calls With Skype

Monday, June 13th, 2011

Over the years, Skype has become increasingly beneficial and useful to businesses that operate online and it’s easy to see why.

If you are a business operating online in the UK for instance and you have cause to contact a supplier or customer in the UK or abroad a Skype to Skype conversation is free and therefore an attractive option if you’re looking to keep your costly calls down.

So if you’ve heard of Skype but not really used it or if you’re wondering exactly what it can do, then you may find this latest blog of interest.

Whether you’re a tiny business or one that has a hundred staff, Skype is an important tool to have when it comes to any communication.  It is packed with decent features that offer a lot of flexibility when it comes to use and surprisingly over the past year or two, Skype has added some nice extras.

So what are the main points you should know?

You can make Skype to Skype calls free.  Thus, if you need to call someone and they are a Skype user, you can have that privilege for nothing.

You can make ordinary calls to landlines and mobiles.

You can call Internationally – at a very good rate in comparison with some of the traditional providers.

You can send SMS messages via Skype too.  While this may not seem that great, imagine if you have a field of workers and you need to keep them all updated.  Skype gives you the option of sending a text message to hundreds of users at the touch of a button.

You can get instant, online messaging.  This is great if you haven’t got time for a long call and again, is completely free of charge when using it to contact another Skype user.

Video Calls – This is by far one of the best parts of Skype.  If you need to do any face-to-face interviewing for example (and there are companies beginning to make use of this for training purposes) Skype not only allows you to do this, but during the call you can attach documents and embed links in ‘real time’.  This can cut out substantial time if you’re working on projects.

So, who is using Skype?

Everyone that knows about digital has a Skype account!  Even if they don’t put it in their email signature, you will find many people have an account.  It currently also has over five hundred million users worldwide and a fairly substantial 12% of the entire world’s international calls are made through it.  (These figures were the last recorded in 2009 so the latest figure is likely to be much higher).

So, based on this, if you take a look at the cost of your calls throughout the year, it may be worth looking at Skype as a way to reduce those call bills and give the extra budget to something that will help you grow your business!

What do I need to do to get Skype?

It’s very easy to get Skype.  Simply go to the website, download the application and you’re practically ready to go once you’ve set your user name and password up.

Bear in mind for calls to mobiles and landlines will incur a cost but as we’ve said, any calls to another Skype user through the application will be completely free of charge!

You will need a good Internet connection and a computer that can handle a microphone (and webcam facility if you want to make video calls) but that’s about it!

Other things you should know

Like all things in life, things aren’t perfect and sometimes the quality of calls can be affected by the speed of Internet and demand.  However, Skype is very good at getting feedback and is certainly good at improving the level of service wherever possible.  However, that said, if you’re going to be doing million pound deals it may not be the most perfect thing to call your client on.

Skype has mobile applications that allow it to run in the background or you can set-up call forwarding where incoming Skype calls get transferred through to your mobile phone, even if your computer is turned off at work. You can even have customers contact the business via Skype calls for customer support.

It’s compatible with iphone and ipad as well, meaning you can reduce mobile costs while you’re on the move and it will allow you to save money if you’re a company that relies on a lot of phone usage!

If you’d like more information on the digital arena, you can read our previous blogs which cover a diverse range of subjects suitable to the small and medium business owner or alternatively, contact us.

Paul

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Comparing The Value Of SEO To PPC

Monday, June 6th, 2011

If you’ve tried time and time again to get your website seen, no doubt you will have tried Google AdWords but found it very expensive. We all know that Google is the most well-known search engine out there and that its AdWords is a PPC based online advertising system where you pay for your listings to appear in the Sponsored Links section that runs alongside the organic SEO results page.

Of course, both the PPC results and the organic results are displayed on the same page, but there are pros and cons to the application of each method. You just have to ask yourself the question of what you can afford.

Let’s break down the benefits and detriments of using both SEO for Organic Results and Google AdWords;

The Pros and Cons of SEO Generated Organic Results

Organic SEO is entirely dependent upon the algorithms of the search engines. Search Engine bots roam around and evaluate your website’s data, adding it to the index. Your website gets ranked compared to the rest of the results so when a user submits a search query to Google the results are retrieved and listed according to what the best match is for the search terms entered by the user.

This is a cost effective option in comparison with PPC campaign. Generally speaking, people are more likely to trust organic search results as there is no inherent bias to the order that the results are listed. Standard SEO practices do get the lionshare of clicks too. However, this does not mean that SEO is free. The process of returning good SEO takes time and does inevitably cost money, but if your SEO campaign is well structured and maintained it should still come many times under the cost of a PPC campaign.

SEO is ultimately for the longer term. It takes time to get high rankings, so it is not good if you are looking for instant or immediate results. .

The Pros and Cons of Google Adwords (PPC)

First things first; you have to specify the maximum amount you are willing to pay for a visitor who clicks on your ad. The PPC itself is decided by Google’s automatic bidding system factoring in considerations such as competition, relevance, keywords, etc.

It promises you a very cost effective strategy of acquiring new customers but the more competitive the keyword, the higher the cost per click. The biggest benefits of PPC campaigns are that they can start yielding results within the first hours of its implementation. No waiting here. While SEO can take months on end to get you those rankings on your keywords, AdWords is more or less instantaneous getting traffic moving very quickly. Your ads are paid to be displayed when the keywords are used in searches and you only pay on performance. If you don’t receive traffic then hey, you don’t pay!

Other variable benefits of AdWords include precise keyword targeting, landing page and region control giving you the ability to decide which page your visitors see, and if you can afford it, you can buy the 1st ranking position and go to the very top of the page.

But it costs money in order to make full use of Google AdWords. Businesses operating in a niche market with enough money to inject into their SEO would be viable candidates to succeed with this PPC approach. The other negative is that the campaign only lasts as long as the advert stays, compared to the organic search results which can remain largely unaffected for many years.

Beware of click fraud too! Click fraud is an Internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising. It works by way of someone clicking on an ad for the specific purpose of generating a charge without having any real interest in the ad link itself. There are also automated scripts or computer programs that can imitate a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad. While using computers and programs to target pay-per-clicks like this is illegal, at current, click fraud is rife at about 17%.

So how do you decide over PPC and SEO?

Research has suggested that most users perceive organic SEO results as far more accurate and relevant. The problem is the time it takes to achieve a decent ranking and attain your desired results. Google AdWords may cost more but it does produce instant results.

Of course every business is different and the individual, respective needs and requirements of each business, particularly small, independent companies, should decide between which factor is more precious; time or money?

Many successful websites tend to utilise a mixture of SEO techniques and PPC to maximise the traffic to their websites. This in turn increases their ROI (Return on Investment). The best of both worlds? A case could be argued there.

Paul

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